MP Ken Livingstone poses for a campaign intended to smarten the appearance of Britain’s men in the news in 1988.
Photograph: PA

Mr Ken Livingstone yesterday won his three-year battle to become Labour’s prospective parliamentary candidate in the north-west London constituency of Brent East.

The Greater London Council leader beat off three other candidates in the selection meeting to win by 50 votes to 25 in the second ballot against a black Westminster councillor, Miss Diane Abbott.

Brent East’s sitting MP, Mr Reg Freeson, who last Friday took out a writ against Labour’s national executive for failing to set up an inquiry into the local party, refused to participate in yesterday’s meeting.

He becomes the first casualty of Labour’s present round of reselection.

Mr Livingstone appealed to him to accept the decision and show his support, but Mr Freeson said: “I am not going to go away. There is now a legal question-mark against the proceedings.” He urged Mr Livingstone to look elsewhere for a seat, “even at this late stage.”

But the GLC leader shrugged off the possibility of a battle in the courts. “I have spent the last three to four years in and out of the courts. Life would not be the same without a writ bearing down on me,” he said.

Mr Livingstone faced hostile questioning at yesterday’s meeting over his part in the GLC Labour group’s recent decision to set a rate in opposition to the London Labour Party’s agreed strategy against rate-capping.

Some local party delegates accused him of a sell-out, and Mr Livingstone said afterwards that there had been a “full and frank exchange of views.” Events at the GLC “couldn’t have come at a worse possible time.”

The GLC controversy appeared to be reflected in the comparatively low vote for Mr Livingstone in the first ballot. The result in the first round was Mr Livingstone 31 votes, Miss Abbott 26, Mr John Ryan 15, and Mr Anthony West three.

He had earlier told the selection meeting that he would oppose the re-election of Mr John McDonnell as deputy leader of the GLC’s Labour group because he could not trust him.

Mr McDonnell and nine other councillors last month voted not to set a rate, even though their action meant that a reduced spending package was voted through by Tory, Alliance, and rightwing Labour councillors.